It had been years since he'd allowed himself to think back to a time before he was Spencer Reid; only child of Diana and William Reid from Las Vegas. He'd almost succeeded in burying that part of himself, along with the conflicting emotions that came with being the son of a criminal mastermind. Remembering his early childhood a traitorous smile escaped his mouth. He'd never had much luck with fathers and father figures but out of the bunch the argument could be made that Ian Doyle, his birth father was the best. He ticked every box: a proud, loving and involved father that after finding out about his talents pushed him to succeed in all of his interests.

However, an additional box had also been ticked, that box being of a heartless criminal overlord who would cut down anyone that got in his way. This side of his father remained hidden to him until the arrival of Lauren Reynolds, and with her the quiet life he shared with his father and their housekeeper crumbled. The vivid memory of his father being walked out of their house in handcuffs surrounded by police officers flashed into his mind and his smile quickly faded away. He had fought to get to his father, only to be caught by an officer who scooped him up and let him cry on his shoulder until the car that his father had been put into drove out of sight.

Then came the day when he was asked to sit in a dark, cold room filled with government agents dressed in balaclavas with guns pointed at every inch of him. He didn't have to pretend to be scared; the picture they took showed all too clearly the blind terror that filled his head. Once this was done Lauren disappeared and he was left in the care of the handful of new agents prepared to whisk him away into the witness protection program. They had tried to explain to him in the nicest terms that they could what his father had done, and then where he had gone. Generally along the lines of "Your father's been a very bad man and he's been taken away to learn how to be a good man." After discovering that his comprehension level was well beyond his 6 years should have allowed the explanation became more in-depth. A chilling list of crimes was divulged along with the fact that he would have to remain hidden for his own safety, to stop any of his father's people, or more worryingly enemies from finding him.

Scared and confused, he didn't know who to trust. So while on the way to his fourth safehouse he slipped away from his half asleep minder, stowing away on a coach trip to Las Vegas where by chance he bumped into Diana Reid. A woman who took him in, and became the loving mother he never knew he needed but now could not imagine life without. After dying his blond hair brown and losing his accent he fit into his new family with ease, ever the chameleon.

After years of living as Spencer Reid his life once again took a sudden change after Jason Gideon walked into his lecture hall to deliver a class. He had unintentionally caught the man's interest after letting his intellect slip out. After the class Gideon had hunted him down with the ferocity usually reserved for killers. Becoming his shadow around campus, explaining at every possible opportunity the benefits of working at the BAU. Little did Gideon know after a week of impromptu chats the thought that had him signing up for the bureau was not health care plans or the opportunity to travel but the idea that he could in the grand scheme of things offset the hurt his father had caused. With that in mind Spencer was willing to risk it all by walking into the lions den. After his first case was over, with no sign that his cover had been blown Spencer began to let himself relax into his position. It was at this time that he built up the courage to look his Father up in the FBI system, the sheer volume of his file had him sitting open mouthed in shock. Pages of all manner of offenses covered his desk. The agents from his childhood barely scratched the surface when it came to what his father was up to.

His brain still had a hard time computing that his kind and patient father was the same man described in the folder he now grasped to his chest. The only way he knew to deal with it was to pretend it never happened. For his own emotional preservation he avoided thinking about the issue and bottled it away. This seemed to work until the appearance of one Emily Prentice. His heart stopped the moment she walked into the bull pen, her name may have changed but she was easily recognisable to him. He only wished she didn't recognise him so easily. He was only a small child when she saw him last, he told himself. Years of growth had helped him distance himself from the little boy he once was. That didn't stop him digging into his messenger bag for his oversized glasses and pushing his long hair forward in an effort to hide his face.

Hotch introduced their newest agent to the team, when it came to Reid's turn all he could do was stand painfully still, waiting for his world to be crumbled. But it didn't happen, instead Lauren's eyes passed over him for the briefest of seconds, stopping to take in his eyes before sticking her hand out to shake. Spencer didn't even register the hand in front of him, still standing unmoving, staring into Lauren's eyes. Luckily for him his team were well versed in his sometimes awkward behaviour.

"Reid doesn't do handshakes." Morgan explained, covering for his friend, "Too many germs." This shook him out of his state and he smiled apologetically in her direction.

Spencer wasn't sure how he felt about Lauren joining the team, he knew he should be angry with her for taking away his father and changing the course of his life forever. He'd seen so many relatives of people the team had arrested swear revenge for their loved ones that it almost seemed normal, but after processing what was in his father's folder he logically knew that he was no different than the people they go after day after day. If only his heart would listen to that same logic.

In spite of his fear that he may be found out to be the runaway child of a criminal mastermind who now worked to fight the good fight in the FBI, Spencer became close with Lauren, and after the events of the underground cult case that had both of them in danger. The two struck up a close friendship, for Spencer's part he no longer thought of Prentice as Lauren Reynolds; the woman that took his father away, but only as Emily Prentice, an agent that always had his back. And a friend who could make him feel better even in the darkest times, just by her even stare and warm smile.

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